A Europe without England

April 26th, 1999

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The European Union has a map showing Britain divided into areas such as the European Region of Scotland with England no longer so called, but divided into four ‘European regions’.(Daily Mail, 26 August 1997)

The EU has mapped out its dream of the future – a Europe without England. A chart sent to businesses, schools and libraries shows Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as parts of Europe. But cheeky Eurocrats, hell-bent on a federal superstate, have NOT marked England. Instead it is simply represented by nine regions.(The Sun, 15 April 1999, p2)

Brussels has wiped England off its new euromap. Scotland Wales and Ireland are all in place, but England is represented only by its regions. It’s clearly an attempt to divide and rule. But new EC chief Romano Prodi has another think [sic] coming if he thinks we’ll just disappear. In the words of the song, there’ll always be an England …(The Sun, 15 April 1999, leader p8)

The regions used by the European Union for Statistics for maps are chosen by Member States. In the case of the UK, the EU uses the regional division chosen by the UK Government, a classification used by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Department for Trade and Industry.

The “new” map referred to in the Sun’s “exclusive” article was first published two years ago in the same newspaper. The Map is entitled “The EU, Member States, Regions and Administrative units”. Since the UK is a member state, it is the UK that the map refers to. The regions of England are referred to as Economic Planning Regions as previously designated by the UK government. If England was designated as a separate regional entity (as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are) by the UK government, then it would have been mentioned on the map. The internal administrative boundaries of a Member State is a matter for each Member State to determine.

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